Rotisserie poultry

ABSTRACT

A method of trussing a poultry carcass including folding the neck skin over the back of the carcass, placing the central part of a cord over the neck skin and passing the end portions of the cord over the wings, about the body, under the keel and back on the other side of the body, tieing the cord over the neck skin. A modified trussing method includes making a slit in the skin of the body of the carcass, tucking the end of the humerus section of the wing into this slot and, if desired, binding the wing section in position by placing a cord over the wing section, suitably over the body skin covering the end of this section.

This invention relates to a method of preparing a poultry product and tothe product so prepared. The invention relates particularly to a methodof trussing a poultry carcass so as to bind the wings in an effectiveway.

BACKGROUND

It is important especially in the preparation of poultry for cooking ona rotisserie that the carcass be compact and that the wings not beallowed to extend outwardly away from the body of the carcass. Further,when the neck of the poultry is removed this leaves a substantial amountof skin which is loose and tends to hang in an unsightly fashion and mayget overcooked.

The irregular shape of the carcass makes it hard to bind, and bindingswhich have heretofore been made tend to be ineffective to hold the wingsin place and tend to become undone especially as the carcass is turnedin the course of its rotation on a rotisserie. Further, the ends of thewings, or the ends of the wing portions, if any joints are removed, tendto punch through the plastic bags ordinarily used in packaging thepoultry.

Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide improvedmethods for packing poultry to avoid the above difficulties, whichmethods are practicable and can be performed economically andeffectively in a commercial packing plant. More specific objects willbecome apparent as this specification proceeds.

DRAWINGS

Embodiments of our invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a poultry carcass at the beginning ofthe trussing operation with the carcass lying on its breast;

FIG. 2 is a view of the poultry carcass lying on its back with thetrussing cord passed about the body of the carcass;

FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 2 except showing the cord disposed about thebreast under the end of the keel bone and back over the wing portions;

FIG. 4 is a view of the poultry carcass with the carcass turned again torest on its breast and with the ends of the cord tied on the back;

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the invention as a slit is being madeunder the wing portion;

FIG. 6 is a view like FIG. 5 but showing the wing portion being tuckedinto the slit; and

FIG. 7 is a broken view, like FIG. 5, but showing a cord in place overthe wing portion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, C designates a poultry carcass which may bechicken, turkey or other fowl. The invention is particularly adapted toa small turkey. As here shown, the feathers, entrails, head, neck andfeet have been removed. If desired, the tips of the wings may also beremoved.

As shown in FIG. 1, the carcass is on its breast with the back portion10 of the body upwards. At the beginning of the trussing operation theoperator may grasp the loose neck skin 11 and fold it over the back ofthe carcass as shown in FIG. 1.

Then the operator may place a cord 12 over the carcass with a centralportion of the cord 13 over the neck skin 11, and turn the end portions14 and 15 downwardly on each side of the carcass, over the wing. Thewing of pountry has three sections, the section which is attached to thebody is called "humerus", the section which is attached to the humerusis called "radius-ulna" and the third or end section which is attachedat the other end of the radius-ulna is called the "wing tip". As shownin the drawings, the wing tip section has been removed. Accordingly,when the operator brings the cord down on each side of the carcass thecord is passed over both the humerus section 16 and the radius-ulnasection 17 of the wings.

Then the carcass is turned over to rest on its back with the breastportion 18 upward. The end portions of the cord are each then passedacross the breast and in different directions under the keel 19 of thebreast, after which each end portion of the cord is passed downwardly onthe other side of the body of the carcass, again across the radius-ulnaand humerus sections of the wings, to the back of the carcass (FIG. 3).The carcass then may be turned over so as to have its back upward, andthe ends of the cord tied in knot 20 over the skin 11.

The product so prepared is secure with no wing sections extending awayfrom the body and with the neck skin bound against the body where itgives good conformation to the product and does not burn during cookingon a rotisserie.

Another modification of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 5-7wherein the same poultry carcass is shown as in FIGS. 1-4 except thatthe radius-ulna section of the wing has been removed along with the wingtip section, leaving only the humerus section 16 extending from the bodyof the carcass. Such removal is accomplished by severing the wings ofthe poultry between the humerus and the radius-ulna sections.

According to this modification, the operator makes a slit 30 in the skinof the body under the humerus section of the wing, the slit beingtransverse of the humerus section and inward of the end of that section.Then, as illustrated especially in FIG. 6, the operator pulls back theskin 31 at the rearward side of the slit, thus stretching the skin andbringing it under tension while providing an opening through which theoperator may tuck in the end of the humerus section with his other hand.When the operator releases his hold on the skin 31, this skin, by itsown elasticity, comes into place over the end of the humerus section asshown in FIG. 7. The end of the humerus section is thus hidden and heldin place. In this condition the end of the bone of this wing sectioncannot injure the bag in which the poultry is packaged or catch on anyobjects as the poultry is turned on a rotisserie. Further, this packingprocess provides a neat appearance which adds to its marketability.

After the wing has been tucked into the slit in the skin the carcassmay, if desired, be wrapped with cord in the manner described inconnection with FIGS. 1 - 3 with the cord portions 14 and 15 extendingover the humerus section of the wing and preferably over the skin whichextends over the end portion of this section.

While we have illustrated and described in detail only certainmodifications of our invention it is understood that the invention issubject to wide variation and embodiment in many forms, and that manychanges may be made, all within the spirit of the invention and withinthe scope of the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. In a method of preparing a poultry product the steps ofsevering a wing of a poultry carcass between the radius-ulna and humerussections to remove the radius-ulna section of the wing from the carcass,making a slit in the skin of the body of the carcass at a point underthe humerus section of said wing and inward of the end of said humerussection, stretching the slit skin while tucking said end under the slitskin, and releasing said skin to permit the same to draw over said end.2. A method as set forth in claim 1 including the step of passing a cordabout the body of said carcass and over said humerus section to bindsaid section against removal from engagement with said slit.
 3. A methodas set forth in claim 2 in which said cord extends over said humerussection and over the skin disposed over said section.
 4. A poultryproduct comprising a poultry carcass having a slit in the skin of thebody of the carcass at a point inward of the end of the humerus sectionof a wing of the poultry carcass, the end of said humerus sectionextending through said slit and under the skin adjacent to the slit. 5.A poultry product as set forth in claim 4 including a cord extendingabout the poultry carcass and over said humerus section of said wing. 6.A poultry product as set forth in claim 4 including a cord which extendsover the skin over said end of said humerus section.